Creative
Work
Palmetto Bluff is a planned community situated on 20,000 acres deep in the heart of South Carolina’s Lowcountry. Characterized by swaying marsh grasses, lazy intracoastal rivers and century-old live oak trees strung with Spanish moss, Palmetto Bluff also acts as a steward for the land it occupies through its commitment to ecological and environmental conservancy.
While this serene enclave — complete with several residential neighborhoods and a superlative resort — thrives on wide-open spaces and natural beauty, Palmetto Bluff still needs to promote all it has to offer to future homebuyers and vacationers. Working with Wray Ward, they conceptualized, developed, approved and scheduled an advertising campaign — but no one could prepare for what came next.
“The concept we had originally planned for the March 2020 photo and video shoot focused on a group of friends reuniting at Palmetto Bluff,” said Heather Dumford, Wray Ward’s associate creative director. “But with the sudden change in societal norms due to COVID-19 — like social distancing and limitations on gathering sizes — showcasing a group together suddenly seemed very tone deaf.”
Given the unexpected circumstances and unknowns about the spread of COVID-19 at the time, Wray Ward and Palmetto Bluff agreed to delay the shoot indefinitely. As the months passed, the pandemic continued to change people’s behaviors. This included many leaving densely populated urban centers for the open air of country living, along with extended families hunkering down together to help each other weather the pandemic.
